Andrew j



(No Model.) v

A. J. GWIN. RAILROAD CATTLE GUARD.

N0.5zv,684. Y 'Patentedocn 16,1894;

IIIIIIIHIHIIIHIHIIIIHIIIIHE` www/w w MQ A TTU/RNE YS.

l UNITED STATES Y PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW J. GWY 1N, OF MINDEN,YLOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES F.HILL, OF SAME PLACE. l

RAILROAD CATTLE-GUARD.v

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,684, dated October16, 1894.

Application filed February 1'7, 1894.; Serial No. 500,488. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. GWIN, of Minden, in the parish of Websterand State of Louisiana, have invented a new and Improved RailroadCattle-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in that class of railway gates whichserve as guards for preventing cattle from passing along the track. Itis more particularly an improvement in gates which are operated by meansof levers connected with short movable rails arranged alongside thetraffic rails so as to be depressed by the wheels of a locomotive. Inmost cases, such movable rails have been adapted to operate in avertical plane, but without longitudinal movement. This arrangement isobjectionablegtsince said rails do not yield readily when the pilotwheels of a locomotive strike them, and, hence, the mechanism whichconnects said rails and the gate, is liable to be deranged, and thespeed of the train must be reduced more than wouldbe necessary if thesaid movable rails were adapted to move longitudinally.

I have devised a gate-operating mechanism in which the movable railshave such movement, and are connected with the verticallysliding gate byan improved mechanism, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a plan view of my inventionapplied to a railroad track. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2, Fig.l. Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2.

The guard or gate A, is arranged transversely ofthe track B, in theusual way, and adapted to slide vertically in a box C, having suitablevertical gudeways. The gate A, has three parts or divisions, which, whenthe gate is elevated, cut off passage along the track B, between therails, also on each side of the same. The gate is held elevated by meansof springs appended to shafts F, F, as

hereinafter described. The movable rails E,

are arranged on the outer sides of the traffic rails B, and normallyproject some inches above the latter being supported by and pivoted tocrank arms a a', which are fixed on the ends of rock shafts F, F',arranged transversely beneath the traffic rails.

Two sets of movable rails E, are employed, one on each side of the gateA, and the inner ends of the rails E, on each side are lapped andloosely secured together, at b, by a rivet working in alengthwise slot.The outer ends of the rails E, are beveled on the upper side, to enablethe locomotive wheels to pass easily on to them.

` The means for connecting the movable rails E, with the gateY A,consist of curved levers c, and connecting rods or bars d. The saidlevers are mounted loose on the inner rock shafts F', and the rods CZ,are pivoted at their respective ends to the upper ends of said levers c,and to the lower portion of the gate.

"The two inner rock shafts F', are connected `by a rod G, (Figs. l and2) arranged between the rails B, and pivoted to arms f that are keyed onthe rook shafts F', and project verticallyin opposite directions. Thusthe said rock shafts F, and F', are caused to rotate simnltaneouslyalthough in opposite directions, so that the curved levers o, of eachshaft act together to raise the gate. To this end, the said levers reston pins g, which project'laterally from the ends of arms a', which arekeyed on the shafts F. From this-relation of parts it is apparent thatwhen the shafts F rotate in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 2, thearms ct', will be carried down, and the Y levers c, being thenunsupported by the pins follow and allow the gate to dropjby its owngravity.

The rails E and also the gate A are held elevated by means of therevolute or coiled springs H, applied to the outer crank shafts F. Oneend of each spring H is secured to a shaft F, and the other end to theadjacent trackv sleeper. The tension of the springs tends to rotate theshafts F outward, or from each other, so that their arms a, are heldnormally elevated as shown in full lines.

It is evident that the arms a, of the inner crank shafts F will be heldsimilarly elevated by reason of their connection with the rails E. Thusthe arms a, a', support the rails as shown.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent the operation of thegate or guard is as follows: When a locomotive approaches the guard fromeither direction, its pilot wheels strike the beveled ends of themovable rails and push them forward and press them downwardsimultaneously, whereby all the rock shafts are rotated a portion of arevolution, and the arms a', of the inner rock shafts F, are thrownforward and downward so that the gate drops until its top surface isbelow or Hush with the traic rails B, as shown by dotted lines Fig. 3.While the train is passing the movable rails E are held depressed andconsequently the gate remains lowered, but so soon as the train haspassed off the movable rails on the opposite side of the gate, thelatter is raised by the action of the springs which rotate the shafts F,F, and thus raise the arms a', of the inner shafts F, whose pins g inturn raise the levers c and thereby the gate also to the position shownin full lines.

It will be seen that the adaptation of the rails E to move lengthwisewhen struck by the locomotive wheels, tends to obviate danger of injuryto the crank and rod connections between the rails and gate, since theshock of contact of the wheels with the rails is much slighter thanwould be the case if the rails were adapted for vertical movement only,and hence a train may pass onto the rails at a greater rate of speed andwill cause the gate to lower more quickly in the one case than in theother.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with traffic rails, and a gate arranged at a rightangle thereto and adapted to slide vertically, of the movable railsalongside the traic rails, two rock shafts having two sets of armspivoted to said movable rails, the inner arms being xed on the innerrock-shafts, levers which connect the latter with the gate, and devicesfor connect- 4oy ing such arms and levers, for raising the gate, asshown and described.

2. The combination with the traffic rails, the vertically slidable gate,the rock shafts F, F', having arms a, 0.', movable rails supported bythe latter, the links d, and levers c, pivoted loose on arms a', pins g,which project from the latter and bear against said levers, and springsfor holding the shafts and movable rails in normal position das shownand described.

3. The combination with the vertically sliding gate, or guard, oftransverse rock shafts, crankarms fixed on the latter and having lateralpins, and movable rails supported on said pins, levers mounted loose onthe inner rock shafts, and rods connecting them with the gate, as shownand described, whereby the movable rails have a compound horizontal andvertical movement, and when depressed .arms being provided with lateralpins; the

levers pivoted on the inner shafts; and rods or links d, which pivotallyconnect thel said levers with the gate, as shown and described.

ANDREW J. GWIN.

Witnesses E. B. REAGAN, E. E. SULLIVAN.

